Donatello Drabbles
by Laughter's Tears
Summary: A series of drabbles about Donatello. Mostly character study, the occasional dash of humor thrown in.
1. Gratitude

Hello! This is the first of my new collection of drabbles focusing on Donatello. These first two have been sitting on my computer for a while, but I don't know how often this will be updated because I have no idea how often I will get new ideas for this.

Here is your disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. If I did, then the 2k3 series would not have been cancelled and it would have stayed the same style. If it's not broke don't fix it! What were they thinking? (end rant)

This drabble is about the reactions that they get from the people that they save.

* * *

My brothers and I have stopped countless crimes. We've trained ourselves to listen for the tell-tale sounds that indicate trouble for one of New York's more defenseless citizens. There are the thuds of fists, the sound of feet running on sidewalk, the laughter of gang-members (it really does sound maniacal like something out of one of Mikey's comic books), glass shattering in a store-front window,

and of course, there are screams.

The look of terror on innocent people's faces when they're surrounded by a mob of Purple Dragons has never stopped making me sick to my stomach, no matter how many times I see it. It makes me want to jump in without thinking and fight off the heartless goons, but I'm not Raph. I don't rush in, as much as I'd like to. First we assess the odds, the surroundings, the situation. Then we jump in swinging.

I love how surprised the thugs always are. Those few seconds of surprise are usually all it takes and you're standing in a pile of unconscious gangsters, courtesy of your resident ninja turtles. Thank you! Thank you! You're welcome for making your streets just a little bit safer.

Except we've never gotten a 'thank you'. Instead the victims look at us and that terror, the pure fear that makes me want to throw up, is back. And we're the cause.

My brothers and I have stopped countless crimes, saved countless lives. And we have yet to be thanked or looked at with gratitude. But we're used to it. And maybe that's what stings the most.

* * *

Please R&R.


	2. Stars

This drabble takes place shortly before the first movie. It's pretty self-explanatory, so here's your disclaimer and I'll shut up now.

I don't own TMNT. Enjoy the drabble.

* * *

Donatello loved power outages. Because only when all of the lights went out could you truly see the sky. Sure, it sucked not having his precious gadgets at his disposal, but there was something he liked even better.

No one could really understand where he went, and he'd never told them. Master Splinter had asked vaguely once, but Don had reassured him that he always stayed underground. Always out of sight. No one knew that whenever the power went out he just sat there underneath a sewer grate and gazed up at the sky.

He always loved to look up at the stars. He knew that they were just great big balls of burning space dust millions and billions of miles away, but they were still beautiful. Stars had always stood for something to humanity. They saw something more when they looked up at the night sky. Donatello would look up at the stars and try to figure out what he saw in the night sky, but it was hard to see much meaning through the sewer grate.

Maybe someday, when Master Splinter let them walk on the surface, maybe then he'd be able to see the meaning in the stars. Until then he'd look up through the grate and watch and wait and hope.

* * *

Please R&R.


	3. Learning

Hey look! A bird! A plane! Another drabble!  
Oh, look fine print. Disclaimer: I do not now, or have ever owned or held possesion of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or affiliates.  
Well there you go. Here's a drabble to make up for that drivel.

* * *

In the scientific process, failure is almost expected. When you are experimenting, sometimes the only way you can learn is by getting it wrong the first time. After all, no one is right one-hundred percent of the time. Not even a genius mutant turtle. However, some 'learning experiences' can be more… spectacular than others.  
Donatello would never forget the relief he felt when the empty BattleShell finally showed up at the docks. Leo let loose a few smoke pellets and they all jumped inside and careened to safety. He'd worked for months to get the un-manned driving program right. There were so many variables to consider, especially in a city like New York. He'd tested it and re-tested it at the junkyard before declaring it 'street safe'.  
This was the first time that he had grabbed the remote off of the shelf when he packed his bag. Who knew that it would save their shells on its first night in service? Yes. He'd thought of everything.

Except a garage door opener.

As Donatello surveyed the hole that his work of art had made when it slammed through the door from the garage to the street one thought:

"The scientific process can go to hell."

* * *

Oh, the random things I think of when watching TMNT... (I actually have Shredder Strikes paused so that I could write and post this. I think I'll go back to watching it now.)  
Have a nice day! :)


	4. Do No Harm

**Do No Harm**

I hold no claim on any of the characters you see in this story.

* * *

Donatello leaned over his brother, a frown wrinkling his brow.

"You never learn do you?" he muttered as he pulled a roll of bandages and a bottle of distilled water out of his duffle bag.

"Hold still, you idiot!" he pushed Raphael back onto his shell and began cleaning the most immediate of the grime off of the injured leg. The wound would require stitches, which meant that tape would have to hold until they could get back to the Lair. He'd clean it more thoroughly when he didn't have to worry about the skirmish taking place not six feet away from him. As he wrapped the now only sluggishly bleeding wound and struggled to keep Raph from jumping back up to assist their brothers, three words echoed in his head.

_Primum non nocere_.

First, do no harm- an integral precept of the Hippocratic Oath. For some reason, as he tended the injuries of his brothers with his limited medical expertise and even more limited equipment, that physician's oath always wound up ringing in his ears like a broken record.

"There. Done. Try to keep the tape in place." Donatello ordered as he tied off the bandages. If he was lucky, the tape would hold the wound together until he could get some decent stitches in place.

Raphael didn't even attempt to agree, he merely shot his brother a grin that declared that Don should know him better than that by know.  
Don sighed and replaced the medical equipment.

"Donnie, look out!"

Leo's warning resounded through the alleyway and Donatello spun on impulse, his bo instinctively finding its way to his hand. The wood crashed into the skull of a Purple Dragon and the gangster dropped like a sack. Raphael growled at the attack and leaped back into the fight.  
Before he followed, Don spared a glance at the fallen Dragon. The words sounded in his head again:_ Primum non nocere._

As he knocked out a gunman taking aim at Michelangelo, Donatello thought to himself grimly, _'It's a good thing I'm not a physician.'_

* * *

This is something I've wanted to write for a while now. Donatello is commonly thought of as the medic among his brothers. In my studies, I ran across an article on the Hippocratic Oath and the thought of that in conjunction with Donatello's practice of medicine and first aid has fascinated me ever since.  
Anyways, I hope that you've enjoyed yet another of my ramblings. Have a nice day! :)


	5. Interlude: Usagi

**DISCLAIMER:** This particular drabble has very little to do with Donatello and everything to do with the fact that I wanted to write about Usagi in 2k12. However, a combination of length and the fact that this may very well end up being a deleted scene prompted me to say "What the hell?" and post it now.

* * *

The Kraang and the Foot were fighting over a rabbit man.

Leo supposed that he should have been, at the very least, surprised but at this point he was just glad that there seemed to be no direct threat to his family. The kraang and the Foot seemed completely occupied by one another. The rest of his family alternated between staring intently at the fight and throwing glances at him. Raph already had his hand on his sai, Mikey bounced back and forth, and Don had unconsciously edged closer to April. The intensity with which she watched the Kraang did not escape Leo's notice.

Then, his brothers' postures changed. They all had their weapons out. Donatello had pushed April back from the ledge to stand behind him and Raph. They were ready for a fight. All of this happened in an instant and when Leo saw it he looked back down at the battle. Years of training had his swords at the ready in less than a second.

The rabbit was awake. He had been unconscious before, a group of Foot ninja obscuring him from view as they stood over him to guard their prize. Their attention had been on the Kraang and thus they had been taken by surprise when the rabbit man awoke. As he stood to fight them he moved into the view of the spectators on the rooftop, drawing predictably defensive reactions from ninja who had just sighted a samurai for the first time.

"We're leaving. Now." Leo said. None of his brothers wanted to argue with him. A samurai, even a mutant one, would only bring trouble. But as they turned to go, April leaned over the ledge again for another look, her expression more puzzled than anything.

"We're not going to help him?" she asked incredulously.

Raph returned his sai to his belt, "Nope." He replied flippantly.

"But look at him. He's fighting both the Kraang _and_ the Foot. Doesn't that sound like our kind of guy?" she asked.  
The brothers exchanged mildly horrified glances. Their childhood had been full of stories about the ancient clans of ninja and their samurai enemies. Sometimes they forgot that April's had not. She didn't know.

Leo stepped forward to lead her away from the ledge, "April, he's a samurai. That's why he's fighting the Foot. If he sees us, he'll try to kill us too." Leo was as gentle with the hard truth as he could be. "Come on. Let's go home."  
April allowed herself to be led away from the battle, but the look on her face indicated that she clearly wasn't happy with the situation.

* * *

I think that in 2k12 there would be much more attention given to the traditional animosity between ninjas and samurai. Based on what I've seen of the show and read in the comics, I do believe that both the Hamatos and Usagi could overcome that and become fantastic allies. If you're here for Donatello, don't worry. This little interlude won't become a regular thing. I think.

As always, thank you for reading. :)


	6. Angels Among Us

Hello all! This one has been floating around for a while, and I'm just now getting to posting it. Enjoy!

* * *

The car was upside down, its driver side doors crumpled like used tissue. Donatello seethed as he watched the vehicle responsible for the crash back away and limp from the scene. He watched for the passengers to crawl from the wreckage, waiting with baited breath. The doors didn't open. Muttering a curse, he jumped down the fire escape and ran towards the vehicle. The smell of gasoline grew stronger as he approached and a warning went off in his head. The car was leaking its fluids. Ignition of the fuel was a very real danger at this point. He paused for a moment, wondering if this rescue was worth the risk. The passengers might still be conscious. But they also might not live if he did nothing.

Upon closer inspection, Donatello saw that the driver was already dead. Her neck lolled at an unnatural angle and a pit formed in his stomach as he shifted his gaze to the backseat. The little girl was breathing. Donatello let out a sigh of relief and kicked the window in. The sound of the glass breaking woke her up and she stared at him sleepily before reaching for him. That action startled Donatello even more that the sound of twisting metal and shrieking tires had. He pulled a knife from his belt to cut the seatbelt away.

"It's okay. I'm a friend and I'm going to get you out of here. Stay still, alright?" he spoke gently to her as he cut the strap securing her to her seat. As he pulled her from the car, she nestled closer to him.

"Thank you Mr. Angel." She said, startling Donatello once again. Then, she was squirming in his arms, looking around wildly. "Where's Mommy?" she asked, and he tried to keep her mother's body out of her line of vision, trying to think of something to tell her.

Sirens wailed as the emergency vehicles approached, saving him from having to explain the impossible.

"The people can take care of you now. They'll fix you up." He assured her, placing her on the ground.

"Mommy!" she wailed. Donatello wanted to wrap the little girl in his arms again and protect her from what was coming. Instead, he leapt into the shadows, leaving the little girl crying on the pavement.

Years passed, battles were fought, and the four brothers grew up. Donatello never forgot the little girl who had mistaken him for an angel, but she faded into a line of faces, people he had saved. One of many. He had more interesting things to occupy his mind. Like the upgrade he was giving the BattleShell. So, on his way back from the dump, he didn't even recognize the young woman he saved from a mugging until she asked him,

"Are you real?"  
The intense curiosity in her voice startled him. Donatello was used to fear. He was a monster, after all.

"Yes, I'm fairly certain that I exist." He answered, bewildered but amused.

"I thought I dreamed you." She said, "My aunt told me that angels aren't green and that they have wings, but I was so sure for so long…" she trailed off.  
The word 'angel' brought it back to him,

"The girl in the car!" he exclaimed. She smiled at him.

"You saved my life again today. Thank you." She said.

"I'm not an angel, but you're welcome." He replied before jumping up to the fire escape. She called something after him, but he was too far by then to hear it.  
Idly, he wondered what her name was. He'd probably never know.

* * *

So this is weird and may or may not be continued at a later date. It was floating around in my head and I just had to get it out there.  
Thanks for reading! :)


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